19/05/2008

No unfortunately this post isn’t to report an on going war between two cites, fighting to the death in a no holds bard slogfest where one will fall to the dirt crushed beneath the boots of the glorious winner… Although after writing that intro I really wish it was.

This is going to be my handy comparison between Collectormania and the Bristol comic Expo, in this article I will be supplying our loyal readers with my dark and dirty knowledge of the cities to make your lives easier for future cons!

Yet more trains! Again pre-book for train tickets it makes life A LOT easier. The train journey is quite a direct one with only two changes and one of those being an underground station. Over all these were quite uneventful they even had room for my quarterstaff!

Hotels.

Well now, there are two hotels (The Ramada and the Express Holiday Inn) almost on top of the convention centre and train station, they both increase there rates for the convention as it brings in so many people, I would suggest booking ahead of time, I mean well in advance.

I stayed in The Express Holiday Inn and regretted it from the very start. They not only lost my booking they then tried to charge me an extra £150 on top of an already expensive room. The room itself was pretty poor in fact I can safely say that the best thing about that entire hotel was the shower. Its only other good point is the close proximity to the Convention being literally 2 minutes walk, you could see the Entrance Queue from my window.

The Ramada as a hotel was beautiful, situated only 4 minutes from the event. The staff were very helpful, the bar service was a little slow but they did have around 3 bars. A lot of the talks, signings and panels took place inside the Ramada’s air-conditioned halls. Trust me you’ll be thanking the gods for that.

The lovely thing about Bristol is that its so pedestrian friendly, maps every where and everything within walking distance. So even if you stay in a hotel a little further away don’t be disheartened.

Comic Expo

It couldn’t be more different from Collectormania. It started for the fans on Friday night with the film festival, which was a complete blast. Giving you a chance to meet other people like yourself, enjoy fun movies and small time premières (we had the première of witchblade) as with all fan works some of them were good some of them needed a little more time to mature.

I can happily recommend “Run Rincewind Run” ,“Back Issues” and the now legendary “AMV hell”. During this night they also run a Cos-play contest, which as you can imagine is something not to be missed. To be involved you have to sign up before on the web page, otherwise you aren’t able to compete. The prizes are worth competing for, each winner getting a full box set of some great anime DVD’s.

The next two days are a blur, I recommend serious planning, I’m talking full military invasion style planning here, synchronise watches and be healthy because you are going to do a lot of walking between The Ramada and the Events hall. All the stalls and artists pushing there work are in the Commonwealth Museum (events hall next to the train station) its full of old comics and artists, unlike MK there is very little in the way of toys, figures and costumes to buy.

The Ramada is filled with everything else, signings, panels, portfolio sessions and places to sit. The signings can be really crowded so be patient.

The Stars

As I said all the stars/guests are in the Ramada, it’s a lot less formal then MK, the signings feel personal even though you are surrounded by people. As well as signings they have Panels, these are really fun to go to make sure to get there ahead of time because there is nothing more annoying then people turning up late. At the Panels you can ask well almost anything you want, it’s a great way to learn about what’s happening in the future of the comics you love.

For all those up and coming aspiring artists they have set up a Portfolio session where you can take your work and have it looked over by artists from all parts of the comic industry, people have known to get their breaks like this.

The Eagles.

The Eagles happen on the Saturday night and are the British Comic Awards, I’m not going to say much about them as we have full coverage in the podcast, but they are worth attending its open to the public from 9:30 onwards but if you want to cough up £60 you can buy a three course meal and dine with the movers and shakers of the comic world.

Both these conventions were so much fun, I can recommend them both. But they are both different. Collectormania focuses more on like the name says collecting stuff be it autographs or toys that’s your weakness you can find them all here, Bristol comic expo fixates mainly on comics and what there future holds. This is obviously present through out the weekend but it’s a great place for old school die hard fans and newbies to the comic world.